


Two Sides of a Coin

by Book_Junkie007



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Clint-centric, F/M, mission
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-24
Updated: 2012-06-24
Packaged: 2017-11-08 11:39:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/442824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Book_Junkie007/pseuds/Book_Junkie007
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They draw their strengths and balance from each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Two Sides of a Coin

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to inkvoices for being beta and bouncing ideas with me to the point that the final product looks nothing like the original rough draft (and that's a very good thing). Inspiration for this fic was avengers100 prompt #8 Black and White and workerbee73's meta META: A Union of Opposites

He stands in his black tux beside the faint light of a garden lamp, taking a moment before he has to head back into the party. Parties aren’t usually his thing, but they are hers and she had requested a partner, specifically him, for this assignment. He’d needed to step out for space, distance, and a chance to exchange information. He glances over at his partner, her red hair glinting in the light.

She gives him a slight smile before stepping back through the French doors into the party. He counts to sixty and then slips in after her.

He goes up the stairs, to the upper level of the ballroom, scoping out a good place to watch the room below, to watch her.

He sees best at a distance, removed from everything.

He scans for all the exits and figures out where the best sight line would be, even though he did this the last time he was up on this balcony. It’s as natural as breathing and covering all of the bases is necessary.

A waiter comes up and offers him a glass of champagne. He accepts it with a nod and returns his gaze to his partner.

She’s in a white cocktail dress, a slight smile on her lips, her red hair styled. She moves around the room, talking and laughing with everyone, her eyes taking in everything, and a subtle toss of her hair letting him know that she has found more information that they require. He raises his glass in a silent toast the next time she glances at him, to let her know that he has understood.

He thinks about yin and yang. He’d learned more about it on a mission in a forgotten part of Asia, when he’d been killing time before a target arrived.

“Yin and yang is not about good and evil, it is about balance,” the old woman who was serving Clint tea had said. “The black part, yin, is the female principle and being unseen and hidden. The white part, yang, is the male principle and being seen and manifest. There is also elements of the other in each, so they are never truly separate.”

This is certainly true of he and Natasha. She is his and he is hers, backing each other up and making sure their cracks are covered, presenting themselves as a united whole.

This is why he loves her.


End file.
